His ha-ha epic wins him Wah-Wah fame!

TARA CHAND ‘Tanha’ recommended ‘dhoop, deep, phool aur malaa, laung kapoor suvidhanusar, rasmalai, rabri, chaat, patni ki icchanusar’ in his 2003-creation, titled ‘Patni Chalisa’ (a ‘treatise’ on how to keep wives happy!), even he had not dreamt that his penchant for tickling the funny bone through his poetic writings and recitation, would make him a hero in his hometown, Faizabad.

Three years later his ‘Patni Chalisa’ was lapped up by housewives, across the state, Tanha has gone on to hit the big league winning Wah Wah national competition for upcoming satirists (hasya kavi) organized by SAB TV.

What’s more, it took a ‘Rasogolla’, Taj Mahal, Dukaan, Amitabh Bachchan’ and five minutes flat to take home two home theatres, a Maruti Swift on way to becoming a ‘national name’.

“Yes, life has changed dramatically ever since I won the contest,” said Tanha while speaking to HT Live ahead of his felicitation by Navonmesh in association with UP Press Club on Monday evening. After the second round of the contest in which the participants were asked to prepare a poem on the topic ‘Mouth ka karo good use’ three participants were finally short-listed for the final round.

These included Delhi’s Shambhu Shankar, Agra’s Pawan Agri and Tanha.

Here, the judges, including famous poets Dr Basheer Badr and Dr Om Prakash Aditya, Prasoon Joshi, the lyrics writer of Fanaa etc asked the participants to write a satire in five minutes using the words Amitabh Bachchan, Dukaan, Rasogolla etc. What’s more, the participants were asked to ensure that the verse must also carry a message. Tanha wrote:

Ever since he hit nationwide recognition, he has become a celebrity of sorts in his office—Jal Nigam—where he works in Faizabad as well as the entire district where he is busy attending felicitation functions virtually every other day. All that we can say is, Wah Wah!